Jet tuft rib knitted fabric

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for making a tufted knitted fabric having the tufts locked by the wales of the rib-knitted backing. The backing is knitted on the dial and cylinder of a knitting machine. A hot fluid jet aspirator means texturizes the tufting yarn while positioning it between the yarns of the backing as said backing yarns are held between the dial and cylinder needles.

United States Patent 11 1 Schichman Nov. 27, 1973 54] JET um RIB KNITTED FABRIC 597,288 1/1898 lngalls 61 al 66/92 1 1 Inventor: Daniel Schichman, Cedar 3 3231133 111323 22153523212111... ....:"2'8"714 3,372,446 3/1968 Shichman 6161. 28/1.8 3,435,855 4/1969 Livingston 66/125 R X [73 1 Assgnee' Ummya! New York 3,511,064 5/1970 Major 6161. 66 125 R 22 Filed: Jan. 14, 1971 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [21] APPl- 106,539 637,513 5 1950 Great Britain 66 191 Alp'iwfim 1 32 5332 311323 8"? E 2 22??? i [62] Division Of Ser. NO. 851,551, Aug. 20, 1969, 10698l3 11/1959 sf 664125 R abandoned 52 US. Cl. 66/9 R, 28/1.4, 66/19, Prim? Cane Reynolds A, Att0rney-W1llard SprOWIS [51] Int. Cl.... D04b 9/12, D04b 15/48, D04b 35/26 [58] Field of Search 66/9 R, 9 B, 19, [57] ABSTRACT 66/125 125 32 A method and apparatus for making a tufted knitted fabric having the tufts locked by the wales of the ribknitted backing. The backing is knitted on the dial and [56] References C'ted cylinder of a knitting machine. A hot fluid jet aspira- UNITED STATES PATENTS tor means texturizes the tufting yarn while positioning 2,857,651 10/1958 Keen 28/].2 X it between the yams of the backing as said backing 3,341,912 9/1967 Dyer 28/1-4 yarns are held between the dial and cylinder needles. 3,457,611 7/1969 Nechvatal et a1 28/1.4 3,468,114 9/1969 Jackson 28/].4 X 4 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures COUPLING MEANS SPEED W/ CHANGER 600E], NOZZLE suPPLy ROLLS KAI/77E STEAM rsx TURED YARN Pmmtnnnvav ma rah/74,412

SHEET 10F 7 KNITTING YARN ? KNITTING DIAL 5 rurrnva TLQZIJgX/G 5 4 mmv m II I 3 KN/TT/NG STEAM I CYLINDER Jar IH I I I 3 511 M I W 0 3 15 t1 COUPLING t MEANS SPEED W, CHANGER 2=K 1 w 60057. 'NozzLs Z0 YARN x/w SUPPLY ROLLS TTE'Q STEAM TEXTURED YARN INVENTOR. F G DANIEL swell/MN A 77' URNEV PMENTEU NOV 2 7 I973 3.774.412 SHEET 2 [1F 7 NOZZLE F D IAL i i. s5 m I00" Q 64 F IG. 3

MAIN LOOP APERTURE D4 N/E L I N VE N TOR.

SH/C'HMAN PAIENTEDunvzv I975 3774.412 SHEET MEF 7 ATTORNEY FIELD OF INVENTION This inventionrelates to a novel process and machine for the making of tufted fabric and to fabric as an article made therefor. I

DESCRIPTION or PRIOR ART Tufted fabrics have been made in the past by a variety of methods, the most common of which is that of needle-tufting where the tufting yarn is forced through a backing material by a needle. A loop tufting yarnt'hus is inserted at each point penetrated by one needle. In a like manner, a stream of air, or other fluid has been used to force a tufting yarn through a formed backing as seen, for example, in the US. Pat. to Makansi, No. 3,266,969, or through the backing as it is being woven as seen in the US. Pat. to Susswan, No. 3,145,946. All three methods present the same limitationregarding the nature of the finished product. Each of the above methods does not securely lockthefabrie to the backing material without the use of additional adhesives. Thus, without the addition of a glueing process the tufting yarn can easily be pulled or come loose from the backing material.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object 'of my present invention to provide an improved tufted fabric, and process and apparatus'for making such fabric that the tufting is securely locked into the backing material.

A further object of my invention is to provide a process and apparatus for substantially, simultaneously knitting a fabric, applying tufted yarn thereto and testurizing the tufted yarn.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a tufted knitted fabric in which the sides of the loops forming the tufts are locked in place by adjoining parts of a plurality of spearate wales.

SUMMARY In accordance with the present invention, the tufted fabric has a knitted backing in which each loop of the tufting is secured at each edge by a wale of the knit and encloses at least one wale of knitted backing. This fabric is formed by texturizing the material that comprises the tufting yarn through the use of an aspirator and positioning the aspirator between the dial and cylinder of a knitting machine, such that the tufting material is deposited under pressure between the courses of the backing material as it is being knitted.

The details of my invention will be more clearly apparent and more readily understood by reference to the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of the circular knitting machine showing the position of the jet tufting mans;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the position and feed-speed relationship between the jet tuft providing means and the remainder of the knitting machine;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view illustrating the gap or dial height and the location of the nozzle;

' FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic perspective drawingv illustrating the dial and cylinder needles of the machine and process of my invention used to make a 1X2 knit stitch;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged diagram of the machine of FIG. 4 illustrating the knitting cycle for making the stitches of two courses, the loops for one course being omitted;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of the machine of FIG. 4 illustrating certain sequences of steps performed;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view ofa 1X2 rib knit fabric having the tufts in place in accordance with the machine of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional diagram along lines 8-8 of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a plural jet machine and process;

FIG. 10 is a diagram similar to FIG. 5 illustrating the preferred embodiment of the machine illustrating the dial and cylinder needles used to make a 1X1 rib knitted fabric just prior to the time that the tufted yarn is jetted therein and showing only two courses thereof;

. FIG. 11 is a front view of the preferred embodiment of a 1X1 rib knit jet-tufted fabric of my invention.

Referring to FIG. I, there is shown a generally conventional machine for standard rib knitting having a knitting dial and a knitting cylinder and means to provide knitting yarn to the various needles of the dial and cylinder comprising the knitting stations. The dial and -its needles are shown as 2, and the cylinder and the cylinder needles shown generally by the numeral 3. Tufting means includes the jets 4 and 5 and provides the tufting yarn which is deposited between the various courses of the fabric which is being knitted. There is also shown a windup means 6 for pulling the knitted fabric downwardly after the fabric has been knitted and rolls the completed fabric.

Before describing the details of FIG. 1 as well as the resulting rib knit, jet tufted fabric, reference is made to FIG. 2 which is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship of the knitting machine and particularly showingthe relationship of the speeds between the knitting operation and the tufted yarn supply. The knitting machine 1 includes a dial 2 which essentially moves counterclockwise (FIG. 1) and the dial needles move in cam tracks. The relative movement and cam action involved in the operation of the dial and cylinder needles is standard. The speed of the dial rotation is,

however, related to the speed at which the yarn 20 is ejected from the jet 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the speed of the circular knitting machine 1 is set up at a rotational speed W1 in RPM and through conventional 7 speed changer and coupling means, the Godet drive rolls are driven at a speed related to WI. The yarn is supplied through the Godet rolls and to the nozzle of the jet tufting means where steam is also applied to it for texturizing purposes. The resulting texturized yarn 20 (see FIGS. 4 and 7 also) is then deposited between the needles of the dials and cylinders and over the yarns held by the dial needles, but between adjacent dial needles.

As used herein, the term jet tufting means includes the nozzle and the means for providing steam for texturizing purposes.

This jet means is described in detail in my prior U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,363,041 and No. 3,372,446 in which I am a co-inventor. The contents of these patents may be incorporated in this disclosure for the purpose of providing an understanding of the jet apparatus. Briefly, in

rolls and the drawn yarn enters into a steam propulsion device which includes a cylindrical tube. Within the tube there is provided a hypodennic needle through which the yam may advance. A passageway exists about the needle to receive hot gas (steam) which causes the yarn to be propelled from the needle. The yarn is propelled from the needle into a set of rolls which rotate at a linear speed less than that of the yarn. The yarn thus accumulates in the needle. It is crimped and texturized by the packing resulting from the yarn being accumulated in the needle and heat set by the hot gas which is also used to propel the yarn forward. The hot gas, preferably steam, is also used to texturize the yarn. In the present invention this yarn is texturized through the packing of the yarn in the jet tufting means by the interaction of the yarn to be texturized with the yarns being knitted into the fabric and by the heating due to the hot gas. More specifically, since the yarn to be texturized is supplied at a higher rate than the linear speed of the dial rotation, when the nozzle of the jet tufting means is opposite a yarn which is has been knitted into the fabric and thus blocked, the yarn to be texturized is compressed and packed. Since the resulting packed yarn is heated by the hot gas, a crimp is placed in the yarn. As the dial continues to rotate, the resulting texturized yarn is deposited between the yarns being knitted to form a loop of the tufting. The inventory of texturized yarn in the tip of the nozzle is never completely exhausted during the time interval when the texturized yarn is being deposited between the yarns held by the dial needles. Thus, the tufting yam 22 is continuously texturized over its entire length. In my earlier patents referred to above it was noted the linear speed of the yarn as it was fed to the nozzle should be five times faster than the linear speed of the exit rolls. This'was necessitated by the fact that the yarn leaving the needle must be sufiiciently texturized and heat set to maintain its crimp while stored on rolls awaiting use. In the present invention, the texturized fabric is immediately applied to the fabric which may be heat set as a unit after the knitting is completed. Thus the tufting yarn need not be subjected to long periods in the nozzle for heat setting the crimp. The fact that the tufting fabric is immediately applied to the backing also allows the use of undrawn yarn. As stated and for purposes herein, the structure of the jet means for propelling the yarn and for texturizing it is deemed to be a conventional element, but is used as an element of the entire novel combination described herein.

The knitting machine shown in FIG. 1 produces a ribknit fabric, which is disclosed in intermediate stage of completion in FIG 4. Conventionally, a rib-knit fabric produces wales on the front and back surfaces. For the fabric of FIG. 8 only alternate dial needles are utilized, whereas every needle of the cylinder is utilized. Thisis clearly shown in FIG. 5 where every other needle of the dial 101, 103, 105, etc., is used, and every needle 201, 202, 203, etc. of the cylinder is used. In this way, the

resulting fabric is essentially a 1X2 knit, that is, there are two wales in the front produced by the cylinder for every single wale in the rear produced by the dial. Therib-knit jet-tufted fabric made in accordance with FIGS. 4-6 and shown in FIGS. 7-8, is a 1X2 rib knit stitch fabric. The preferred embodiment employs a 1X1 rib-knitstit'ch" which is explained later in connection .with-FIGS. l0 and 11.

Referringinow to FIGS. 4, 5 and 9, with the dial and cylinder rotating to the right or counter-clockwise, the yarn to be tufted is jetted into the fabric by the nozzle 4 subsequent to the formation of the stitches at a knitting station and at a point where the main loop aperture formed by the loops of yarns A, B and C has reached its maximum open area. The yarn to be tufted has been omitted from FIG. 4 and yarn C has been omitted from FIG. 5 for clarity.

In,FIGS'. 7 and 8, the front wales l0 and 12 are followed by a rear wale 11, front wales l4, 16, rear wale 13, front wale 18, etc. The courses produced thereby are illustrated generally by the numbers 30, 31, 32, and 33. Sinker wales 40, 41, 43 and 44 for course 30, and 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54 for course 31, have been illustrated, facing in the diretion opposite from the front end of the loops of the various wales and provide the interconnecting yarn section within the body of the fabric.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 6, the cylinder needles 201, 202, 203, 204 and 205 produce respectively the front wale loops 10, 12, 14, 15, and 18, while the dial needles 101, 103, provide the back wales 11, 13, etc. These numbers have only been used for illustration purposes, it being understood that the dial rotates and the various cams control the needles to produce the rib-knitted fabric. Since the rib knit is a conventional fabric, the cam controls that are utilized in the knitting machine to produce the ultimate fabric will not be shown herein.

The texturized tuft 20 is applied from the end of the jet and is positioned, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4, so that-the texturized yarn is deposited between the courses of the knit fabric as the fabric is being knitted. This is accomplished by directing the yarn into the wales between the dial and the cylinder. As the dial rotates, the jetted texturized yarn is deposited on the knitted fabric and the tufts are formed. As the dial and cylinder rotate, each stitch formation passes the jet nozzle and a tuft comprising relatively large loops 22A, 22B, 22C, FIG. 8, is formed in the large space between the front wale loops or front course. At this phase of the knitting cycle, shown sequentially in FIG. 6, and referring first to the left side, the yarn loop is held in each of the dial and cylinder needles and the fabric depends inwardly of the machine. The jet is aimed midway between the two sets of needles so that a yarn passing through the steam jet is blown into the V opening, shown in FIG. 3, produced by the two loops on the knitting needle. The tuft is not held in place until the fabric advances to the next cam base where the fabric stitch is closed, as illustrated in the right side of FIG. 6. And the fabric is knitted so that the yarn is locked into place. The result is efficient use of the tufting material as well as a minimum amount of the tufted material below the primary knitted structure.

The manner by which the tufted yarn is held in place and the resulting end fabric may be understood by referring to FIGS. 6 and 8. The left side of FIG. 6 illustrates the position of the tuft 20 in a manner similar to when it is applied by the jet 4 of FIG. 4. At the right side of FIG. 6, the cam action of the dial and cylinder needles "causes the stitching to go through the sequences there illustrated. As the dial needles are pulled inwardly, the cylinder needles are pulled downwardly,

thereby tightening the wales and locking the tuft into position, as illustrated in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, wales 14, 16, 18 are the front wales, and wales ll, 13, etc., are the back wales. Tuft '20 is shown in looped form and projects towards or in the direction of the backwales. It will be noted that in terms of the ultimate fabric, the tufts actually present the front surface of the fabric, but the designations front and back wales havebeen used in the conventional sense so that theycan be associated with the cylinder and dial needles, and the loops formed by such needles, respectively.

The entire knitting machine is illustrated in FIG. 1 and specifically shows the position of the steam jets 4 and 5 with respect to the dial. In this embodiment, two steam jets 4 as well as 5. are utilized on opposite sides of the dial, as well as utilizing a multiplicity of feeds. With respect to the jets 4 and 5 (which include the feeds for the tufted yarn) the undrawn polypropylene yarn is texturized and jetted between adjacent courses so asto form the loops. These loops arethen locked in the knitted fabric by the action atthe next feed where a new end' is being supplied; by the yarn feeds and-knitted into wales and courses. The knitted material is being pulled down by the action of the rotating drive means 6 so that as the material is rotated, the jetted loops formed by jet 4 arepulled down so as not to interfere with jet 5.

The preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated in essence in FIGS. wand. 11.. InFIG. 11, there is shown a 1X1 rib knit fabric having front wales-400, 402, and back wales 401, 403, and courses 31',

32'. This fabric and the manner of lockingthe loops of the tuftedyarn 20 is the same as that'shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, except for the 1X1 arrangement.

In FIG. 10, the formation of dial and cylinder needles is illustrated for making the lXl. It will benoted that in FIG. 10, all of the'dialneedles 105-109 are used, while in FIGS. 5 and 6 only the alternate-dial needles 101, 103, 105.are used. In other'respects, the'knitting.

process proceeds in accordance with the manner of FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 9, there has been shownsa machine using a plurality, here four, of jets 14,.and a plurality of yarn feeds l-8 to form the fabric. When the fourjets are used, nointerference results because of the effect ofthe adjacent. jets on the knittedufabric since the fabric had been pulled downwardly out'of thepath of the jet by the drive 6 of FlG. 1.

The distance from the tip ofthe knitting needle to the end of the nozzle, andalsoithe distance from-the .end

of the nozzle to the fabric, shown diagrammatically-in.

FIGS. 3 and 4, is critical and is as close as possible without interfering withthe needles. Inthe preferred embodiment, the distance from the needle to the. nozzle is about one-fourth to one-eighth of an inch. The nozzle does not touch the needles, but the nozzle is spaced much less than one-eighth of an inch from thefabric, preferably 1] 100 inch. If thisrdistancefrom thenozzle to the fabric is changed, difficulty occurs because theloop tuft yarns have been shown or made in connection with FIG. 8.

In connection with FIG. 10, the main and minor loop apertures are more equal and main and minor or subloops are formed in the tufts as shown in-FIG. 11. In

this embodiment, the 1X1 and the main and subloops Polypropylene Supply Pile Height feet per minute RPM-Knitter (H) FIG. 8 (13" dia. dial) (inches) II (37.5 feet/minute) 0.10 11 l 0.13 l l 0.17 H 0.17 11 0.18 240 l l 0.20 300 l l 0.25

As noted previously, since the tufting yarn is immediately locked in the backing, the yarn need not be heat set by the action of the nozzle. The finished fabric may be separately heat set. Accordingly, satisfactory tufted fabric may be obtained over a wide range of ratios betweenthe yam supply rate and the linear speed of the dial. The above example, for instance, discloses ratios of from 2.1 to 8.00, all producing satisfactory fabric in accordancewith the present invention.

It is sometimes desirable to use latex or some other adhesive to apply to the fabric backing to 'preventyarn stretching and to provide stability and stiffness. This also assists in avoiding loop unraveling.

Because of the critical requirements set forth, the tufting strand is propelled into the knitting machine by a'steam nozzle which is spaced substantially less than one inch from the knitted fabric. Further, in the preferred embodiment, spun nylon is used for the yarns of the knit backing while polypropylene is used for the tufted yarn. This invention has been used with nylon as the tufting fiber and spun polypropylene or polyester as the back, and is not to belimited to the used these specificmaterials. By proper design of nozzle, and variations of'the'denier of theknitting yarns and tufting yarn, the present invention 'is adaptable to both high and low gauges.

While the sets description seto forth the principles of theinvention in connection with specificapparatus, it is to be-understood that this description is madeonly by way of example and'not as a limitation of the scope of the invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

.1. A process for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib-knitted backing in which the backing is knit'on a knitting'machine having a -cylinder, a'

hurling a tufting yarn at a speed greater than the.

speed of the dial rotation by'means of a moving stream of heated fluid through the jet aspirator and at the backing fabric as it is being knitted in such a manner that the tufting yarn is compressed and packed in the nozzle of the jet aspirator by, the blocking action of the yarns beingknitted into the backing when a backing yarn is positioned in front of the nozzle thereby causing such tifting yarn to be textured and after the backing yarn advances from in front of the nozzle depositing by means of the fluid stream the resulting texturized yarn between the neighboring yarns which are being knitted into said backing; whereby the tufting yarn is locked into said knitted backing.

2. Apparatus for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib knitted backing comprising a ribknitting machine having cylinder and dial needles and a hot fluid jet aspirator means for applying the tufting yarn over the courses of the fabric while the fabric is being knitted and forcing the tufting yarn into the knitted fabric while simultaneously texturizing the tufting yarn.

3. An apparatus for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib knitted backing, comprising cylinder and dial needles and at least one jet aspirator for feeding a tufting yarn onto the backing of the fabric as it is being knitted, said aspirator being provided with a flow of heated fluid and being positioned at an inclined acute angle from thehorizontal approximately midwaybetween'thecylinder and dial needles, the orifice of said aspirator being spaced a distance from the partially knit fabric sufiiciently small to provide a resistance to the longitudinal advance of said tufting yarn which is thereby texturized and hurled into thepa'rtially formed fabric to form tufts, means for subsequently completing and tightening the fabric about the ends of said tufts, and means for advancing and rolling the knitted fabric.

4. A process for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib-knitted backing in which the backing is knit on the dial and cylinder needles of a knitting machine, comprising the steps of:

texturizing said tufting yarn by means of a stream of fluid directed against the yarns of a course of the backing;

positioning said texturized yarn by means of said stream between the yarns of the backing while said backing is held between the dial and cylinder needles and subsequently;

continuing the knitting operation by knitting the next course of the fabric so that the ends of the loops of the tufted yarns are locked in place by the wales of the backing.

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO. 3,77 rl2 DATED I July 9, 1975 lN\/ ENTOR(S) DANIEL SCHICHMAN it is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Claim 1, column 7, line 6, the word "tifting" should Signed and Sealed this sixteenth D21) Of September 1975 [SEAL] Arrest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Officer (ommissr'nner oj'lalenrs and Trademarks 

1. A process for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib-knitted backing in which the backing is knit on a knitting machine having a cylinder, a dial, and at least one jet aspirator positioned midway between the dial and cylinder, comprising the steps of simultaneously: knitting a backing on the knitting machine; hurling a tufting yarn at a speed greater than the speed of the dial rotation by means of a moving stream of heated fluid through the jet aspirator and at the backing fabric as it is being knitted in such a manner that the tufting yarn is compressed and packed in the nozzle of the jet aspirator by the blocking action of the yarns being knitted into the backing when a backing yarn is positioned in front of the nozzle thereby causing such tifting yarn to be textured and after the backing yarn advances from in front of the nozzle depositing by means of the fluid stream the resulting texturized yarn between the neighboring yarns which are being knitted into said backing; whereby the tufting yarn is locked into said knitted backing.
 2. Apparatus for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib knitted backing comprising a rib-knitting machine having cylinder and dial needles and a hot fluid jet aspirator means for applying the tufting yarn over the courses of the fabric while the fabric is being knitted and forcing the tufting yarn into the knitted fabric while simultaneously texturizing the tufting yarn.
 3. An apparatus for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib knitted backing, comprising cylinder and dial needles and at least one jet aspirator for feeding a tufting yarn onto the backing of the fabric as it is being knitted, said aspirator being provided with a flow of heated fluid and being positioned at an inclined acute angle from the horizontal approximately midway between the cylinder and dial needles, the orifice of said aspirator being spaced a distance from the partially knit fabric sufficiently small to provide a resistance to the longitudinal advance of said tufting yarn which is thereby texturized and hurled into the partially formed fabric to form tufts, means for subsequently completing and tightening the fabric about the ends Of said tufts, and means for advancing and rolling the knitted fabric.
 4. A process for making a fabric having tufts locked by the wales of a rib-knitted backing in which the backing is knit on the dial and cylinder needles of a knitting machine, comprising the steps of: texturizing said tufting yarn by means of a stream of fluid directed against the yarns of a course of the backing; positioning said texturized yarn by means of said stream between the yarns of the backing while said backing is held between the dial and cylinder needles and subsequently; continuing the knitting operation by knitting the next course of the fabric so that the ends of the loops of the tufted yarns are locked in place by the wales of the backing. 